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City Says Huntsville Couple Can’t Live ‘Off The Grid’

We are hearing of more, and more, cases of those wishing to live ‘off-grid’ being harassed. The Nazis who demand conformity will eventually learn that we Americans can only take so much abuse. – Shorty Dawkins, Associate editor

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) – A Huntsville man joined the military to fight for our rights, but now he says his own rights are being threatened.

Tyler Truitt and his girlfriend Soraya Hamar are currently living within city limits but without city utilities.

Huntsville officials said that’s not allowed. The city filed a lawsuit against Truitt and Hamar, calling their self-sufficient lifestyle unsafe.

The couple says they’d rather be arrested than leave their land.

“We live out here off the grid, 100 percent self-sustaining,” Truitt said. “So I basically made all my utilities: I have my solar panels, I have my rainwater collection and stuff.”

The city doesn’t see that as a good thing.

“They say our house is a trailer, which is not allowed in city limits,” Truitt said.

City officials also took issue with Truitt’s off-the-grid lifestyle.

“They came and they condemned our house and told us if we stayed here we’d be arrested for trespassing on our own property, and the reason why is, they said, it was unsafe living conditions because we don’t have city utilities hooked up,” Truitt explained.

The former military member says he just wants the freedoms he swore he’d protect.

“I took an oath that I would support and defend the constitution and the freedoms that entails, and I really feel like those are being trampled upon,” Truitt said.

Truitt is prepared to fight for his property. “You have to stand up for what you believe in. They could come out here today if they wanted to and take us to jail for trespassing if that’s what they want to call it and, you know, that’d be fine with me. I’ll still come back the next day and the next day and the next day because it’s my home and because I live here. Where else am I supposed to go really?”

We reached out to Huntsville Utilities and Huntsville City Attorney Peter Joffrion. So far, neither have responded.

20 comments

Why dont you give more detail. Like what does he do about water, sewer, and such. I know he has solar panels, however when you live in town you cannot take a poop in the yard. I support a person living off the grid but you still have to handle things correctly for everyone elses safety and health. Again I need more information about this.

Many places don’t have sewers, even in smaller towns. That’s why they have septic tanks. A safe and sanitary way to handle the problem. People lived for years with cisterns to collect and store rainwater.

EFF the City. I hope to hell that the whole town rallies behind this family and puts an end to the city’s tyranny.
Please People, go to the City’s web page and email them and tell them to back the hell off.http://www.hsvcity.org/

Trusting the local Alabama Governments to do the right thing is laugh, they own the courts and commissions in this state and the poor and their children are targets in this state has the largest open child trafficking system in the nation they openly disreguard your rights to fair and just trials in their own court transcripts and procedures respectlng the federal constitution is a joke to the State of Alabama. A fair trial does not mean the procecution overlook and use double jeopardy when trying a defendant , here xoneration of charges in the first trial and then tried in a second trial same charges and same judgement again , awaiting the second appeal and preparing for federal court

People in Arizona, some on the Reservations, live like this. They provide their own water as the people do, and they either run a generator or Solar power for electricity. They are self sufficent. Whats the problem here, local Govt getting to big for it’s britches?

Amazing. So many places zone against mobile homes, even if you want to put on on fifty acres of land with town water and sewer. Definitely a trend toward forcing folks onto the grid- here in NY, the DEC used smoke opacity meters calibrated for diesel trucks to illegally shut down people’s wood stoves, and they put a ban on outdoor wood boilers. Can’t have people in a position where they can tell the Government to go pound salt. NY politicians want subjects, not citizens. “There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.” -Daniel Webster

Totalitarianism is a political system in which the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever possible …Isn’t freedom or justice equally for all.You can vote to be Ruled and Divided in a democracy…ask any other country with one…Why swear an oath to a changeable constitution that guarantees republican government and never says democracy at all? All you party loyalist better wake up to who DC is representing= Wall Street over Main Street with global labor not US. How many made in the USA products can a $5 a day foreigner buy? How can you budget borrowed money? Where’s MY castle?

the government says the rain water that falls on a person’s property belongs to the government. The sun than shines on a person’s property, belongs to the Government. The sewage on your property along with garbage you create, belongs to the Government. After all, they don’t want another “Ruby Ridge” or Nevada Bundy stand off. If you live off the Grid, they can’t turn your gas, electricity or water off when you don’t pay absorbitant fees and taxes on them, like a robot, when they want it.

“Our” government is no longer “ours” , if they have their way we will become government property—-I took an Oath to protect our Constitution , it did not include these traitors that have crept into our leadership or the way these traitors have treated our legal citizens , it (the corruption and mistreatment) needs to end now…..

I’m all for living off the grid, but we are a nation of laws, we are the ones who voted those people into office . I’m getting tired of all the self righteous facebookers and bloggers running their mouths about how bad things are and then just sitting on their assess and thinking they have done something. If you want to really help this guy call, write or go down there and see what the situation is, find out what the laws are in the city and then do something to help him, but get the facts. Been burned too many times on just taking somebody’s word and it makes you feel like an idiot. Its up to us to change things and you can’t do it all from a computer.

This man has every right to live off the grid. However the article doesn’t say whether they have proper sewage or septic tank. There are some laws that are needed to protect people from themselves and to others. Trash removal, septic tanks, child protection, sanitation and laws to protect property values of others. Like I said I believe a person can live off the grid, but not at the safety of others or their expenses.

I live in Huntsville and I am not sure who made the statement regarding mobile homes in the city limits. They are everywhere within the limits. And regarding the issue about indoor/outdoor/other toilets – that isn’t mentioned in the report. My guess is that they DO have something like a compost toilet and it wasn’t reported. Huntsville Utilities has been a monopoly for many many years. Monolopolies are never a good thing.